A multi-agency wildfire team will hold a public meeting about the steps homeowners can take to reduce the risk of wildfire at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Catoosa County Commission meeting room at 800 LaFayette St., Ringgold, Ga.

That's why a public meeting is being held Thursday in Ringgold, Ga., at which officials from the state, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service will tell residents how best to protect their homes in case of wildfire.

It's the first in what the wildfire team hopes will be a series of local meetings at which they'll spread the message of becoming a "firewise" community.

Suggestions for residents range from simple acts such as cleaning out overflowing gutters and raking pine needles from their yards to more involved projects such as creating "defensible space" around homes and landscaping with fire-resistant plants, such as the oak-leaf hydrangea.

"Really what this team is going to be focusing on is arming these communities with information ... to at least protect their homes," Burnette said. The theme is, "here's what you can do to try to protect yourself."

Community Wildfire Protection Specialist Eric Mosley said, "It's such a large amount of downed timber, there's just no practical way to get rid of it. The large trunks ... the only thing to [solve it] is decomposition."

It should take at least five years for the larger storm-felled trees to decompose, depending on the amount of rain, Mosley said.

"We're really urging home-owners to take some really simple steps to prevent the onslaught of wildfire," he said.